The Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation provides critical perspectives on topics relevant to Information Systems Evaluation, with an emphasis on the organisational and management implications

Abstract

Abstract: Cloud computing in many ways can be viewed as both a technology offering and a business alternative. But its adoption today is driven more by economic rationale than by technology justifications. Cloud, being a new offering, is bound to run into
a lot of inertia in terms of its initial market acceptance. This inertia is driven by the dissatisfiers some real and some perceptional that inhibit a widespread adoption. The four key adoption inhibitors identified in the context of cloud adoption a
re vendor related risk, security related risk, no‑gain risk and efficiency related risk. These inhibitors are examined, in terms of their relative impact, across four industry sectors ‑ SME, BFS, Education and Hospitals. This study mainly aims at equippin
g the cloud vendors with information regarding the relative risk perceptions of the four mentioned inhibitors on a sector by sector basis. The paper posits that this understanding will facilitate the cloud computing vendors to improve product conceptualiz
ation at the production level and fine‑tune product positioning at the sales and marketing level to enhance market penetration.